Will Facebook be fined?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook could face a fine of up to $1.63bn (£1.25bn) – 4% of its annual global turnover – which is the absolute maximum that could be imposed by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner if the firm is found to be in breach of Europe’s GDPR privacy legislation.

As Facebook Europe is based in Ireland, this is the authority it will deal with.

There are rules regarding the reporting of such a breach and so far Facebook has stuck to them.

An information breach is supposed to be reported within 72 hours of discovery and this is what Facebook appears to have done – it says it discovered the breach on Tuesday, notified the commissioner on Thursday and alerted the public on Friday after fixing the vulnerability.

The Information Commissioner says it recognises that firms may not have all the answers regarding an incident within 72 hours, and that information can be shared as it is discovered – and Facebook has admitted it is “at the very start” of its investigation.

Data protection adviser Jon Baines from the law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP told the BBC it was impossible to know how likely a fine is at this early stage.

“No matter how good an organisation’s response is to a personal data breach, it is what went before that will count against it,” he said.

“So, if Facebook is found not to have taken sufficiently robust measures [to prevent the vulnerability], it may be held to have infringed GDPR, even if its response since has been exemplary.”

Could it face legal action from its two billion members?

Image copyrightGetty Images/Facebook

A class action lawsuit has already been filed in California by two Facebook users who claim the firm was negligent in allowing accounts to be compromised, reports Bloomberg.

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